Soon to be a major film starring Emma Stone, from the director of The Favourite
Winner of the Whitbread Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize
A life without freedom to choose is not worth having.
Godwin Baxter's scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realized when he finds the drowned body of the beautiful Bella, who he brings back to life in a Frankenstein-esque feat. But his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless's jealous love for his creation...
But what does Bella think?
This story of true love and scientific daring whirls the reader from the private operating-theatres of late-Victorian Glasgow through aristocratic casinos, low-life Alexandria and a Parisian bordello, reaching an interrupted climax in a Scottish church.
About the Author
Alasdair Gray won the the Whitbread and Guardian Awards for Poor Things. He is also the author of The Book of Prefaces, the story-collection, Ten Tales Tall and True, and the groundbreaking modern classic, Lanark.
Industry Reviews
'A magnificently brisk, funny, dirty, brainy book' London Review of Books
'Visionary, ornate and outrageous' The Independent
'Witty and delightfully written' New York Times
'A brilliant marriage of technique, intelligence, and art.' Kirkus Reviews
'The greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott' Anthony Burgess
'Those who, like me, are unsure if they are Alasdair Gray fans or not, ought to fall on Poor Things with delight, and not just because of the almost excessive beauty of its appearance' Philip Hensher, Spectator
